


Know You Well

by Tarlan



Category: Vertical Limit (2000)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Community: smallfandomfest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-24
Updated: 2011-01-24
Packaged: 2017-10-15 01:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/155562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not just Annie that Peter wants to save.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Know You Well

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SmallFandomFest FEST08

"Tommy McLaren's a good climber. Your sister's safe with him."

Peter had lost count of the number of climbers who had said something similar since he reached the K2 base camp, not realizing that he didn't need to be told. He knew Tom well enough to know he hated being called Tommy. He knew him well enough to count the laughter lines and flints of gold in his mostly green eyes. National Geographic had hired Tom's company for two weeks last season to take Peter climbing on some of the lower peaks in the Himalayas for a photography shoot. The others probably knew about Tom's National Geographic client but Peter had kept his name out of it, letting the mountaineering world believe he had stopped climbing after the tragic death of his father. They should have known better. Climbing was in the blood. The exhilaration and adrenaline high wasn't something that could be switched off even under person tragedy. Montgomery Wick was a testament to that particular fact.

How it ended up with just the two of them climbing together was still a puzzle to Peter but three days into the expedition, huddled inside the tent to wait out a storm, Tom had kissed him and changed everything. During the day they would climb to find the most amazing shots of the Himalayan mountains and valleys, and during the night they would zip together both sleeping bags and discover a far different way to stay warm. Until then, Peter had almost forgotten what it was like to climb with someone he cared about--deeply.

When the climbing season ended in the Himalayas, Tom had returned to the U.S. and they had climbed the Cascades together. Part of the reason why Peter took the assignment back to the Himalayas this season was in the hope of seeing Tom--even though the bustle of the base camp meant they could not spend any time together, at least not without raising suspicions. It was stupid really, hiding what they were to each other purely to ensure Tom's business didn't collapse from negative publicity but it was bad enough climbing with complete strangers--paying clients--without worrying about them having a trust issue with the lead climber over sexual preferences. Certainly Vaughn had made enough disparaging remarks in the past to have cost Tom the chance to take him up K2--and the money that went with having such a rich client--if Vaughn had known about his relationship with Peter.

Only five hours away from reaching the stricken party, Peter knew his chances of finding Tom alive were slim. If Tom hadn't already succumbed to his injuries then he had to fear Elliot Vaughn. Having discovered the body of Wick's wife, Peter knew Vaughn would kill to survive because that was how he had managed to walk down the mountain the last time he tried and failed to reach the summit of K2. If Tom was dead at Vaughn's hand then Vaughn was going to pay but not the way Wick wanted it to happen. Peter would seek justice in the courts--for Tom and for Wick's wife. He would make sure the world knew what Vaughn had done to save his own miserable hide. Peter's only remaining hope was that Vaughn would keep Annie alive out of that same sense of self-preservation, aware that what was left of the rescue party might turn back if Peter no longer had a good enough reason to continue placing his life in jeopardy on a dangerous rescue mission.

He keyed the radio.

"Annie? How's Tom doing?"

"Tom's in bad shape. The dex is almost gone and Vaughn..." Her words trailed off but Peter could hear the unspoken ones.

"Tell Vaughn we're really close now and have extra dex on us. It may buy time for Tom."

"Tom..." He heard her cough weakly. "He told me about you...and him."

Peter remained silent for a moment, stricken by fear. As Wick had stated at the beginning of this mission, once you enter the death zone you were no longer living, you were dying, so death-bed confessions only came from climbers when they truly believed they were not going to make it. Peter cleared his throat.

"Tell him he has to hold on. Tell him I'm coming for both of you...and for Vaughn," he added as an afterthought but he had to admit that Vaughn's life held far less significance to him.

"I'll tell him," she whispered weakly, "But you have to hurry, Peter. You have to hurry."

Monique was staring at him from the other side of the small tent, eyes wide with realization but Peter was not going to pretend that Tom meant nothing to him. Not up here in the death zone when they might already be too late. She switched off her radio where she had been listening in on the emergency channel and waited until Peter had done the same. He looked her in the eye, wanting her to see how determined he was to see this through.

"I have to go now."

"It's dark. You will not be able to see..."

"I don't have a choice. If I wait until dawn, then I may as well turn back because they'll already be dead."

"What about Wick?" Monique asked.

"He has his own agenda...and it's not about saving Annie and Tom. He made that clear from the start."

"He wants to confront Vaughn about his wife's death." Peter nodded tightly, and frowned when Monique began to gather up her gear. "We are in this together," she stated.

They left the tent standing, taking only the climbing gear to lighten the load on their back, knowing that every ounce mattered up here. The ice was treacherous underfoot and the explosions from the other two Nitro Glycerine packs would have weakened the ice covering any crevasses similar to the one trapping Tom's party, so they had to move slowly and tread carefully. The sun crested the ridge just as Peter and Monique reached the last known location of Tom's party and Peter felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the red splattered out across the pristine white snow. Red like blood.

"Dye pack!" Monique stated but Peter still felt a moment of dread as they moved carefully to the center of the splatter.

A controlled explosion of nitro shifted the ice and snow covering the crevasse and Peter peered over the edge only to see Annie lying lifeless on a ledge far below. As he watched, she coughed and moved weakly, revealing Tom. She had covered him with her own body to protect him, and that meant he had been alive only minutes earlier and might still be alive now. When Tom moved his head, Peter felt some more of the pressure ease off his chest. He dropped a pack of dex, letting it land on the ice beside his sister and watched as she handed a syringe to Vaughn before uncapping one and injecting part of the contents into Tom before giving herself a shot. But he could see she was too weak to stand even with the dex. Vaughn had already warned Wick that Annie had edema.

Peter knew it would be better to pull up Vaughn first. They needed the extra manpower to hoist Annie and Tom's dead weights as both were in bad shape and would be unable to assist in the climb. But he also needed someone down below who could prepare both Tom and Annie for the ascent. In truth, Peter could not shake off his fear that Vaughn would refuse to save Tom once he was clear of the crevasse, not wanting to put his life into further jeopardy by helping carry two people off the mountain. At best, he might agree to help only Annie.

"I'm going to secure the rope. We have to pull up Annie first."

Monique gave him a hard look but nodded, understanding immediately, and when Vaughn tried to reason otherwise, Peter made it clear that he'd made his decision. Under normal conditions, pulling up a slender woman would have been easy for two people but in the death zone the air contained only a third of the oxygen, making even the simplest task that much harder. They had Annie halfway up before the ax they were using as an anchor point began to uproot from the ice. Peter dug in his feet but he could feel himself slipping, drawn towards the crevasse by Annie's dead weight. At the last second, Wick arrived and added his own body weight; between them they pulled Annie up the rest of the way.

"I'm going down," Wick stated, leaving Peter little choice but to agree.

Within ten more minutes Wick had subdued Vaughn, clipping him to his line, and had prepared Tom for the lift to the surface. Wick seemed to touch Tom's face gently before stepping back and looking up, nodding for them to start pulling. Although unable to pull the rope, Annie used her weight to help anchor the line, and when disaster struck moments later, leaving four men dangling on a single line, Peter knew that Annie's weight had probably made the difference between life and death.

"Vaughn! Stop moving!" Peter yelled.

The panicked man stopped his flaying arms and legs, and let himself hang limply at the end of the rope. There was no way that Monique and Annie could pull the weight of four men so they needed to lighten the load. Peter saw Wick get out his knife and had a flashback to that terrible day when he had been forced to cut the rope and send his father plummeting to his death in Monument Valley.

"No! I can swing you. There's another ledge at Vaughn's waist height. If we can get him on the ledge then we can get you anchored too. I'm close to the top. If Monique and Annie can pull me up far enough I should be able to help them pull up Tom. Then we try again with you and Vaughn."

Wick's face hardened for a moment but he looked down to check on the ledge. Slowly he put the knife away and nodded. Peter yelled up for Monique and Annie to brace themselves and then started the bodies below him swinging. He could only hope that Vaughn was not too weak to grasp the exposed rock above the ledge. On the fourth swing Peter felt the weight lighten, almost sobbing in relief as Vaughn pulled himself onto the ledge and placed two cams into fissures in the rock face.

"Put in a third," Peter yelled down, smiling wryly in remembrance as he recalled how his father had always insisted on them having three cams for safety. The action had pulled Wick closer to the wall too, and the more controlled swing from two anchor points gave him the chance to push a cam into the wall and drag himself towards it. Having secured the rope, Wick took out his knife again and cut it just above the new anchor point to free Tom and Peter.

"Pull!" Peter yelled and felt the jerk as the two woman began to pull him up.

He swung his ax as soon as he was able to use it as an anchor point, taking some of the weight off the two woman to make it easier for them to pull him up the last part. Peter added his strength to theirs, pulling Tom up the rest of the way and dragging him over the edge. He pulled Tom back to safer ground, leaving him next to Annie and moved back to the crevasse, peering down to see Vaughn slowly playing out the rope as Wick climbed back to what was left of the original ledge. As soon as Wick had anchored himself securely to the rock face above the original ledge, he told Vaughn to start climbing. It took longer for the weakened, less experienced climber but eventually they were both on the ledge, back where they had started only fifteen minutes earlier. Peter played out his rope, swinging it until Wick caught it and watching as he secured it.

They didn't need to pull up Wick, keeping the rope steady as he climbed using an ascender. They pulled Vaughn out last and as soon as he had cleared the crevasse, Peter knelt down beside Tom. His face was ashen, blue around the lips where he was not getting enough oxygen but the small plumes of his breath proved he was still breathing but the rescue wasn't over yet. Descending K2 would be every bit as dangerous as the initial climb but at least they had gravity partially on their side. Peter and Wick hauled Tom between them, leaving Monique to assist Annie. At least Vaughn was capable of walking unaided as they descended out of the death zone. Skip was waiting on the base radio for the call, and Vaughn's people sent two Majestic helicopters as soon as they reached a rescue point.

Annie grabbed his arm. "Go with Tom."

Peter was torn for a moment but nodded, joining Wick beside Tom's litter. He watched as Vaughn and the two women were taken on-board the first helicopter. Moments later, the second dropped down low enough for them to board, and the medic on-board took over immediately, focusing on Tom to get him stable. As they crossed the foothills, heading towards the closest medical center, the full enormity of what had happened hit Peter hard and he found himself shaking. He was surprised when Wick reached out and squeezed his shoulder.

No words passed between them and yet Peter got the impression that Wick was thanking him rather than it being the other way around. Yet, without Wick's help, Tom wouldn't have this fighting chance to live, and Annie would be dead too.

"Tom's a good man. I should have gone for him and your sister alone...not just 'cause Vaughn was there. I owed it to Mayama."

Hours later, and for the first time since the ordeal began, Peter had a chance to sit down next to Tom. He was still too pale and still in a critical condition but the outlook was favorable. They planned to send him back to the States as soon as he was stable, courtesy of Majestic Airlines, and Peter intended to be on that plane. He had a feeling there would be no objections. There was no solid proof that Vaughn had taken Mayama Wick's dex, condemning her to a slow death, but Wick's actions in saving Vaughn's life despite knowing the truth, had humbled the man and Peter had seen genuine remorse in his eyes. Only time would tell if Vaughn had learned from his second brush with death on K2 but Peter had a feeling Vaughn would be hanging up his climbing equipment after this.

****

Several days later:

Peter watched as Tom opened his eyes slowly, fighting the heaviness of the drugs that had kept him in a healing coma.

"Hey," he murmured as Tom tried to focus on his face.

Peter felt the weak squeeze of Tom's hand and he smiled at the way Tom's eyes crinkled at the edges.

Yes, he knew Tom McLaren. He knew him well enough to want to count the laughter lines and flints of gold in his mostly green eyes for the rest of their lives.

END


End file.
